Tanshishan Culture Research (Nanqiang Academic Series)

Author: Zhong Liqiang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-07-01
Features: The Tanishan Culture is named after the Tanishan Site in Minhou, Fujian, and its discovery and research represent an important achievement in Neolithic archaeology in Fujian and the southeastern coastal region of China. While Tanishan Culture is not in a central or dominant position among China's Neolithic archaeological cultures, it still holds indispensable and special significance. The rich and diverse Chinese Neolithic cultures are both distinct and interconnected, both diverse and unified. Centered around the Central Plains, with the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and Yangtze River as the main areas, and surrounded by many peripheral cultures, they form a "centripetal, multi-petaled flower-like pattern." Although Tanishan Culture is classified as a "peripheral" culture, it is an integral and inseparable part of this pattern. In the southeastern coastal region of China, under its unique natural and geographical conditions, a distinctive marine culture developed. In prehistoric times, many residents gathered seafood like shellfish, forming numerous shell middens along the coast and river mouths, which are the earliest remains of marine culture. Tanishan Culture is a shell midden culture distributed in the coastal areas of the lower Minjiang River in Fujian, serving as a typical representative of such remains. In-depth research on Tanishan Culture will undoubtedly yield significant results in understanding its basic connotations and main characteristics, as well as the unique production and life styles and cultural customs of the people who created these remains. There are many commonalities and close ties between the ancient cultures of southeastern China, South China, and the island regions of the South Pacific. Exploring the intrinsic connections and historical processes of these relationships is at least one key aspect of prehistoric cultural research between Taiwan and Fujian across the Taiwan Strait. Professor Zhang Guangzhi has long pointed out: "Archaeological research in the Taiwan Strait can be seen as a bridge between mainland culture and marine culture, and its importance extends far beyond the scope of China." As the main Neolithic culture on the western coast of the Taiwan Strait in Fujian, the study of Tanishan Culture naturally holds significance far beyond the culture itself. Professor Zhong Liqiang, a native of Wuping, Fujian, after graduating from the Department of Archaeology at Xiamen University, remained at the university to teach. Over the past two decades, he has consistently shouldered heavy teaching responsibilities while also holding party and government positions. He has always been diligent and responsible, enduring hardships without complaint. He has systematically taught courses such as "Neolithic Archaeology in China," "General Principles of Archaeology," and "Archaeology in Southeast China," and has long led students in field archaeology practices, with his footsteps covering the Yangtze River region and its southern coastal areas. In field archaeology teaching, he has been meticulous, teaching by example, achieving outstanding results and earning widespread praise. It is precisely on the foundation of long-term teaching practice and accumulated experience that he has written this masterpiece, Research on Tanishan Culture. While I have not read the manuscript in detail, I should not hastily judge its academic value. However, after a quick review, I was left with two impressions. First, the study of Tanishan Culture has already spanned half a century. Over these fifty years, several sites have been excavated on a large scale, yielding abundant materials, but the publication of these materials has been relatively scattered, with no monograph yet available. Numerous articles on related research have been published, but they are scattered across various specialized studies, and the views expressed are diverse and conflicting. For example, there are at least four different definitions of the meaning of Tanishan Culture. This book compiles the previously scattered materials and research findings, interpreting them in a structured manner. This can be seen as a synthesis of research on Tanishan Culture and has created more convenient conditions for further in-depth study. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to call it a comprehensive and forward-looking study that builds on past achievements and paves the way for future research. Second, the book is divided into nine chapters. The first chapter narrates the history of the discovery and research of Tanishan Culture. Chapters two to seven, using the analytical methods of archaeological culture, comprehensively and systematically interpret the basic connotations and main characteristics of Tanishan Culture, forming the core of the book. The last two chapters, based on the main content, explore the racial characteristics, settlement patterns, social organization, religious art, and other aspects of the Tanishan Culture people from the perspective of cultural anthropology. From this angle, the book can also be placed among archaeological anthropology works. For the study of prehistoric archaeological cultures, this research approach is worth promoting. Because it may help prehistoric archaeology overcome the confusion of focusing on objects rather than people, gradually realizing the ultimate goal of reconstructing the true picture of ancient human society.